Sisters and other stops

It sure is staying dark longer these days and it was not all that long past sunrise when I met up with my long time friend Leslie at the Sisters Coffee Company in Sisters, OR. Chilly coming over Santiam Pass and below freezing in Sisters. The goal was to check out the 3-Creeks Lake area but the light just was flat and not happening at all. We drove up toward the lake and came upon a pond that was still covered with ice from the night before. I shot some ‘natural abstracts’ and this is the one I like the most.

As I said the light at the lake was just flat and there sure did not look like there was much hope as the clouds scudded low on the hills so rather disappointed we headed back toward Sisters when we came around a corner and there was Mt. Washington with fresh snow and beautiful sunshine. Not sure how long it lasted but enough to get this shot.

There is an aspen stand just west of Sisters that Dave Hill and I stopped at a few years back and we were meaning to do so last year on an outing with Paula Goodbar but alas the leaves had departed the branches when we got there. This year I was lucky to find them turned but perhaps not fully so maybe another shot at this a week or so from now. I did find two compositions that I liked. The first of the aspen stand and then a close up just for fun of the forest floor.

After a couple more stops which for me produced nothing we parted ways up at Dee Wright Observatory and I made my way to the west and stopped at a little lake that in the past has produced some wonderful images. It did not let me down today.

The leaf color is pretty good on the west side of the Cascades but the leaves are beat up a bit from the recent storms. I knew I wanted stop and photograph a hillside near Upper Proxy Falls so hiked in and found that a tree had come down over the winter and ruined the shot. So I cast about looking for options and found two that I like. I think these show off the glory of the Cascades in full color.

Big trees and Big color.

Despite a nagging cold I had a great day – love being out when it is chilly and autumn does it for me. A few more trips up the McKenzie are already scheduled.